On 10 December 2008, the
Swiss Federal Assembly
The Federal Assembly, also known as the Swiss Parliament, is the federal bicameral parliament of Switzerland. It comprises the 200-seat National Council and the 46-seat Council of States. It meets in Bern in the Federal Palace.
The house ...
elected
Ueli Maurer
Ulrich "Ueli" Maurer (; born 1 December 1950) is a Swiss politician who served as a List of members of the Swiss Federal Council, Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2009 to 2022. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), he was Pres ...
as successor to
Federal Councillor Samuel Schmid
Samuel Schmid (born 8 January 1947) is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2000 to 2008. He was the head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (notably acting as a defense mini ...
. Schmid resigned on 12 November 2008 after a number of controversies, officially citing health and personal reasons. Maurer took office on 1 January 2009.
Candidates
The
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party (, SVP; , PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (, UDC; , UDC), is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Marcel Dettling, it is the largest party in ...
(SVP/UDC), Switzerland's largest party by voter share but no longer represented in the Federal Council after the 2008 split-off of Schmid's
Conservative Democratic Party (BDP), claimed Schmid's seat. The other governing parties including the BDP accepted the SVP's claim and declined to field candidates of their own.
On 27 November 2008, the SVP's parliamentary group decided to nominate former Federal Councillor
Christoph Blocher
Christoph Wolfram Blocher (; born 11 October 1940) is a Swiss industrialist and politician who served as a List of members of the Swiss Federal Council, Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2004 to 2007. A member of the Swiss People's Party ( ...
and former party president
Ueli Maurer
Ulrich "Ueli" Maurer (; born 1 December 1950) is a Swiss politician who served as a List of members of the Swiss Federal Council, Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2009 to 2022. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), he was Pres ...
as candidates for Schmid's seat. Under new SVP party rules, any SVP member elected to the position without being nominated for it by the group would automatically lose his or her party membership. The opposition
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice.
Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...
, citing their opposition to the SVP's policies and their representation on the Council, fielded State Councillor
Luc Recordon as a candidate of their own.
All governing parties declared Blocher to be unacceptable as Federal Councillor. The center-right
Free Democrats (FDP/PRD) decided to support Maurer, while the center-left
Social Democrats
Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...
(SP/PS) announced that they would not elect him and were looking for an alternative SVP candidate. The centrist
Christian Democrats
Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics.
Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...
(CVP/PDC) announced on 9 December 2008 that a narrow majority of their parliamentary group, 23 MPs, would vote for Maurer
Results
Prior to the first round,
Hansjörg Walter
Hansjörg Walter (born 5 February 1951, in Frauenfeld) is a Swiss politician of the Swiss People's Party. He was a member of the Swiss National Council for the canton of Thurgau (1999–2017) and president of the Swiss Farmers' Union (2000–2012) ...
, an SVP councillor from
Thurgau
Thurgau (; ; ; ), anglicized as Thurgovia, and formally as the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. Its capital is Frauenfeld.
Thurgau is part of Eastern Switzerland. I ...
who had previously been rumored to be the favorite of the center-left parties, announced that he would not accept an election. He nonetheless received 109 votes. Following the first round, SVP group leader
Caspar Baader
Caspar Baader (born 1 October 1953) is a Swiss politician, attorney and member of the Swiss National Council from the canton of Basel-Landschaft
Canton of Basel-Landschaft or Basel-Country, informally known as Baselland or Baselbiet (; ; ; ; ...
announced that Christoph Blocher's candidacy was withdrawn in favor of Ueli Maurer. Green Party candidate
Luc Recordon, who did not receive more than ten votes in the first round, declared that he would "suspend" his candidacy.
Ueli Maurer was elected Federal Councillor on the third ballot, receiving exactly the 122 votes required.
Source:
Footnotes
References
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External links
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{{Portal bar, Politics, Switzerland
Federal Council election
2008 Federal Council election